Soaker hose

ABSTRACT

A soaker hose comprising a pair of elongated parallel tubular members each including four straight wall portions. The two wall portions facing each other are wider than the remaining wall portions and converge upwardly. The wider wall portions are provided with small openings which project streams of water on the opposite wider wall portion. A horizontal web member interconnects the opposing wider wall portions below the openings, and the web is also provided with a plurality of small openings. Water entering the tubular members will impinge against the opposite side wall portions, fall down onto the web member and thence trickle down to the ground.

United States Huffaker atent [1 1 Jan. 14, 1975 SOAKER HOSE [76] Inventor: Norman L. Huffaker, 5400 Bewdley Rd., Richmond, Va. 23226 [22] Filed: Dec. 18, 1973 211 Appl. No.: 425,883

[52] U.S. Cl 239/450, 239/542, 239/547 [51] Int. Cl B05b 1/20 [58] Field of Search 239/450, 542, 547

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,851,306 9/1958 Huffaker 239/450 3,080,124 3/1963 Rathmann.... 239/542 X 3,333,422 8/1967 Neyland 239/547 X Primary Examiner-M. Henson Wood, Jr. Assistant Examiner-John J. Love [57] ABSTRACT A soaker hose comprising a pair of elongated parallel tubular members each including four straight wall portions. The two wall portions facing each other are wider than the remaining wall portions and converge upwardly.

The wider wall portions are provided with small openings which project streams of water on the opposite wider wall portion. A horizontal web member interconnects the opposing wider wall portions below the openings, and the web is also provided with a plurality of small openings. Water entering the tubular members will impinge against the opposite side wall portions, fall down onto the web member and thence trickle down to the ground.

1 Claim, 2 Drawing Figures PATENTED JAN 1 4I975 SOAKER HOSE This invention relates to a soil soaking device, and more particularly, it relates to a soaker device comprising a hose construction for watering lawns, hedges, shrubs, gardens, or the like, and especially for soaking areas such as rose gardens, where direct water impingement on the plants is undesirable.

The present invention is an improvement over my previously disclosed soaker hose which is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 2,851,306 which patent is hereby incorporated by reference herein for the description of the art.

The principal object of my invention is to have perfect control of the soaking of the desired ground area. This is accomplished by forming a hose with adjacent spaced portions having holes therein directed inwardly toward adjacent hose portions, so that the sprays of water will impinge onto such adjacent hose portions and trickle gently down to the ground, no matter how the hose is bent and twisted.

The above and other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description of my device, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a transverse cross sectional view of one embodiment of my soaker device along the line 1-1 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the embodiment of FIG. 1.

The device shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises a pair of spaced, hose elements, 3 and 4 which are each nonequilateral polyhedral cross sections having four planar sides. The inner sides or walls 6 and 8 facing each other are the longest sides of their respective polyhedral configurations in members 3 and 4. A connecting web 10 maintains the hose elements 3 and 4 in spaced relation, being attached in each below the vertical eenterline of the elements.

The walls 6 and 8 are attached to the web so as to diverge from the upper to lower regions of the combined hose, whereby a water plenum chamber is formed between walls 6 and 8 and web 10. The improvement in the hose of this invention resides primarily in the downward, divergent relationship of walls 6 and 8, which require water from the hose elements passing through staggered orifices 12 and 14 to be directed against the opposite wall either 6 or 8, to dissipate energy and thereafter, to trickle mildly down through orifice 18 in web 10. The slope of walls 6 and 8 deflects the water downwardly onto web 10, and prevents any substantial amount of water from splashing upwardly, out of the hose and onto undesirable objects such as rose petals or other objects which it is important to protect from direct watering.

The hose elements may be made of any firm, flexible material, such as a resinous plastic, whereby the device may be bent and twisted without kinking or creasing.

Although certain exemplary embodiments have been disclosed, it will be understood that various changes, modifications and substitutions may be made, without departing from the spirit of the invention as described in the appended claim.

I claim:

1. A soaker device comprising a pair of elongated, spaced, coplanar, tubular elements having four substantially straight, interconnected wall portions, one of said walls in each tubular member being wider than all of the others, said wider walls in the tubular elements facing each other, normally converging in an upward direction, and each said wider wall having inwardly and downwardly directed small openings adapted to impinge a stream of water against the walls of the adjacent wider wall of the opposite tubular element, the openings in the wider wall of each tubular element being staggered with respect to the openings in the the opposite tubular element, and a relatively thin, normally horizontal, solid web member extending between said tubular members interconnecting said wider walls, said web member being significantly spaced from the other walls of said tubular members and located below the openings in said wider walls and having substantially vertical small openings spaced along its length, whereby water through the tubular elements will impinge against the confronting adjacent small elements to fall down onto the web member and thence trickle down to the ground. 

1. A soaker device comprising a pair of elongated, spaced, coplanar, tubular elements having four substantially straight, interconnected wall portions, one of said walls in each tubular member being wider than all of the others, said wider walls in the tubular elements facing each other, normally converging in an upward direction, and each said wider wall having inwardly and downwardly directed small openings adapted to impinge a stream of water against the walls of the adjacent wider wall of the opposite tubular element, the openings in the wider wall of each tubular element being staggered with respect to the openings in the the opposite tubular element, and a relatively thin, normally horizontal, solid web member extending between said tubular members interconnecting said wider walls, said web member being significantly spaced from the other walls of said tubular members and located below the openings in said wider walls and having substantially vertical small openings spaced along its length, whereby water through the tubular elements will impinge against the confronting adjacent small elements to fall down onto the web member and thence trickle down to the ground. 